Interesting! That 544 fabbed to look like a scaled down '46 Ford would be a hot ticket for daily driver use. The wheels in my head are turning.
It basically is. A popular story back in the mid-'50s was that Volvo engineers actually dismantled a '46 Ford Super Deluxe, and essentially copied it in 2/3 scale. The resemblance between the two is more than coincidental, IMO. Even if that tale is nothing more than automotive folklore, it certainly sounds plausible. My fourth grade teacher had a white PV544, that was a really cool little car! There was a HAMBer in Wichita, KS advertising a red PV444 for quite a while. I have no idea if it's still FS or not. Could search the Classifieds to see if it's still there. Hell, I'd probably have bought it, if I'd not had so many projects at that time!
My folks had a Volvo 544 a 1960 I started a thread here a couple of years back asking about foreign hot rods because of that car but it ended up being American Iron built overseas.Many years ago I saw a 544 done with all the 50s US tricks like pancaked hood etc. made it look even more like a 47 Ford custom.I'd still like to build one as a daily driver 50s looking custom but update to much more modern power.
Here's a bit of history on the PV Series Volvo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_PV444 A friend of mine in Sweden rodded a sedan delivery version of the PV Duett (stocker below) and drove it across the USA to the Car Craft Street Machine Nationals West in 1980 and back to NYC before shipping it back home. He's still got the car in his garage.
A friend of mine's brother had one when I was in collage. The 16-1800cc engine can be built up to over 140 hp+ I think. I've seen them race mostly back in the day, but some recent vintage stuff and they can be made to haul ass. I imagined what you might do by putting a V-8 60 or a stroked aluminum "Baby Nailhead" in one, but I thought they weren't h.a.m.b. friendly since they are foreign even tho the years are right. The Swedes liked our cars, because the European makes couldn't hold up to the severe Northern weather. As you know there is a fair amount of older American iron over there. They used to get unassembled Dodges , DeSotos etc., and assemble them there. The Fords were shipped assembled I think. My son wanted a '70 140 back about '90, and it still had the same little banger engine in it. Iron block and heads, Twin side draft SU's, and built like a tank. We had some fun with it.
Looks like widened fenders too, what are you thinking for an engine. What year? Does it have a banjo steering wheel that looks like an old one out of a Ford?
Her's one customized It is a A-tractor (EPA traktor) From the beging it was a delivery from 66 body is from a PV 544 with PV 444ES(1953) front window and rear windows The body is 4" wider in the rear that was from the beging and it is made to a buissnes coupe. The roof is chopped 3" /Stefan
A rich kid who was a classmate in my high school had one. About 1959. He had me paint scallops on it and I did it my my parents driveway with spraycans.
Here is mine, 68 mod (was pretty much like from mid 50's to the last year 68. this is lowered as much as possible, som mods in the engine.
I like the coupe version. I always thought a convertable version with traditional custom work (hammered Carson top, frenched lights, grille work, etc.) would be cool.
Just for grins.....if you really wanted to get people scratching their heads, you could put a V860 flathead in one and really have some fun! Mart3406 ============================
I bought a motor from a guy that lives inBlackcanyon city AZ. and he was showing me his cars, and he had a 46 ford, but it looked smaller, He said it was a Volvo with widened fenders, at first glance, I was seeing ford
Saw a cool 144s? at Salina, they are in that familyof shapes also. Had a lot of folks wondering what they were viewing. Really dig all these great Volvos. ~Sololobo~
It's a '64. I swapped a small body Mopar 8-3/4 rear into it with the Volvo coil spring suspension. Widened the fenders 5-1/2" to cover 295-50-15's. The front has a Welder Series MII suspension. I've fit a T-56 6 speed to it and a 406 long rod SBC. I'm going to use a Paddy Hopkirk leather wrapped billet wheel - let's see how many guys know who Paddy was - LOL. Charlie
This isn't exactly on topic and not very hamb friendly but this thread made me remember this volvo apparently based off of a 1925 model considered to be the first one. I don't know much about the car but I think Volvo actually commissioned a swedish hotrod builder to build it for their museum and it's all modern volvo running gear.
------------------------------ I think it's kinda' cool in it's own way....and well it may not be strictly "traditional", I don't think it's exactly 'HAMB-unfriendly' either. At least it's not some dreadful 'rat rod' POS or a "chrome plated, all billet-unobtanium' triple-zoot", so-called "street rod" either! Further on the 'up' side too, as long as there's still people at companies like Volvo who could appreciate something like this and then actually commission to have it built, - that means that there's still some real 'car guys' left there and that bodes well for Volvo and for the auto industry as whole. Too bad it was built to go into a museum, because I'll bet it would be a blast to drive. Mart3406 ================================
The Jalopy Journal
